A basic functional element of storage for a data storage system is typically referred to as a “logical unit” (LU). Accordingly, a “logical unit number” (LUN) is a unique identifier used to designate a logical unit. Each LU may be part of a hard disk drive, an entire hard disk drive or multiple hard disk drives in a data storage system. One or more LUs may be part of a storage array that is accessible over a storage area network (SAN). Thus, by way of example only, a LUN could identify an entire redundant array of independent disks (RAID) set, a single disk or partition, or multiple hard disks or partitions. In any case, an LU is typically treated as if it is a single device and is identified by the LUN.
It is known that data storage systems can be implemented in a distributed virtual infrastructure. In such an environment, LUs are added and removed as storage demand changes. In a case when a new LU is created, by way of example only, data from an existing LU may be copied from physical memory locations identified by the existing LU and stored in other physical memory locations identified by the newly-created LU. Such an operation typically involves both data processing (e.g., central processing unit (CPU) and memory costs) and transfer bandwidth costs, as well as the utilization of additional disk space.